I'm telling you right now that publishing is among the hardest things I've ever done! No kidding. Last time I wrote about the emotional effects of letting go of this baby, but in the last ten days I have been dealing with, plainy put, stuff. When I go into nervous lili mode, I tend to make lists. My lists are piling up, getting longer, and I am getting more confused. The two language thing is not working in my favor, because every time I add writing to my book, I know I have to rewrite it in the other language. Each time I get a "maximum word count" from Amazon, I know I have to cut it in half, because, after all, I am writing it twice! The stuff going on in the world right now, from Robin William's death, to the shooting of a young black man in Ferguson, to ebola and the Gaza, are also impeding my progress as I struggle with the actions of our fellow humans.

My silence here will probably tell you that I have been silent for a reason. Last week was a frustrating week. My editor, proofreader and everything person in Argentina had technical difficulties with the internet, and it was impossible to get together on google docs as we usually do. My English editor was away on vacation. Amazon kept telling me they couldn't help me because of the dual language thing!

Not that it was not a convenient escape for me, to let it all go for a bit and regroup. I had all kinds of excuses and they suited me. But this week the wind seems more favorable and through no coincidence, I reached someone at Amazon who was herself bilingual and was thrilled at my book concept. And that is all I needed to be propelled forward, yes, with the same fears and doubts, but with the certainty that this will be completed.

My do-or-die date to submit everything to Amazon is about six weeks away, so hold on tight. This should be a fun ride!

What are the steps now? Well, we are undertaking a final review of the Spanish stories. I decided to hold off the final review of the English until the Spanish is done, just so that I can check for inconsistencies. It would have obviously been easier if the stories were simply translated, like normal people do, but you should know by now that there is nothing normal about me!

Once all the stories are reviewed, they will be put on PDF. My daughter Patti is working on the design, both the cover and the inside, and I hope she can do this in her spare time at three in the morning, a child after my own heart!

Then I get to send it all to Amazon, and they take 24 hours to "review it". When i get their ok, I order a proof copy WOW! The proof takes one week to ten days to get to me and then, DOUBLE WOW! I give them the go ahead and the book becomes immediately available on the Create Space e store, and three days later on Amazon.